In Memory of Blessed Pedro Calungsod 

By Samantha Beltran

In Rome, a Cebuano named Pedro Calungsod will be canonized on October 21. He will be the second Filipino saint next to Saint Lorenzo Ruiz. 

It is regarded as a very remarkable event to Filipinos, especially those who came from one of the beautiful cities in the Philippines, Cebu. It brought pride and a sense of achievement not only in Cebu, but also rather to the whole country. It would serve as an authentication of Filipino’s faith in God, which for centuries has been swooped on through colonization.

Mission

Calungsod was just one of the boys who entered a Spanish Jesuit missionaries from the Philippines to the Ladrones Islands in the western Pacific in 1668 in evangelizing the Chamorros.

The equipments for the mission did not arrive so amenable in the Ladrones. The jungles were too hard to pass over, cliffs in the place were very narrow to climb and islands were habitually visited by catastrophic typhoons. But despite all of these hindrances, still the missionaries were preserved and that the mission by Calungsod was successfully executed in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Queen Regent of Spain, Maria Ana, who was the benefactress of the mission.

Death

Blessed Pedro Calungsod was killed while doing a missionary work in Guam. On March 5, 2000, he was beatified by Pope John Paul II. He was a very proficient teacher of Cathecism and a sacristan at the same time – accompanied by Blessed San Diego Luis de San Vitores. His Christian martyrdom is also called “In Odium Fidei” or “In Hatred of Faith”. Through his missionary efforts, catechumens started converting to Roman Catholic through the process the Sacrament of Baptism.

Calungsod and San Vitores were murdered when both were caught after baptizing an infant girl and a woman who converted to the Roman Catholic Church. A certain Choco, a Chinese who gained influence over the Marianas Island natives, accused them. This Chinese man is spreading false allegations on Calungsod and San Vitores regarding the spreading of poison while pouring water, through Baptism.

Beatification

Pope John Paul II beatified these two missionaries – San Vitores (October 6, 1985) and Pedro Calungsod (March 5, 2000) at Saint Peter’s Square in Rome. 

Blessed Calungsod’s first putative miracle was the healing of a man with a disease of bone cancer, which laid the foundations for his beatification along other 43 individuals who were declared servants of God. In view of his exemplary and moral-upright works, Pope John Paul II proclaimed:

“ …From his childhood, Pedro Calungsod declared himself unwaveringly for Christ and responded generously to his call. Young people today can draw encouragement and strength from the example of Pedro, whose love of Jesus inspired him to devote his teenage years to teaching the faith as a lay catechist. Leaving family and friends behind, Pedro willingly accepted the challenge put to him by Fr Diego de San Vitores to join him on the Mission to the Chamorros. In a spirit of faith, marked by strong Eucharistic and Marian devotion, Pedro undertook the demanding work asked of him and bravely faced the many obstacles and difficulties he met. In the face of imminent danger, Pedro would not forsake Fr Diego, but as a “good soldier of Christ” preferred to die at the missionary’s side.”

Canonization

The Pope has signed his sainthood, while the Holy See approved it in December 2011. And Filipino Catholics are waiting for the momentous event on October 21, wherein Pope Benedict XVI would recite the official Latin formula in Rome that will set forth Calungsod as a Saint.